Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-01-16
MARRIAGE In CHINA.
LIES Flower. Love, as Found in the Fio"-
cry KingdoIn-Never n Love Letter
Written in Chinese.

Lifs's Flower. Love, AS Found in the Flow
cry Kinedon-Never n Love Letter
Written in Chinese.
"a Chinese love letter! Have any Did
fashioned Chinese lOve-letters in my trnnk!
Have / a gilt-edged Chinese billet-doux
with a monogram like a crows track!
There was never a love-letter written In
Chinese. No Chinese maiden ever penned
a billet-doux or sent a valentine"
Rather sadly was this said by o roman
tic young Chinaman, Mr.. Hong Wing, who
is noted among the Chinese for the skill
with which he plays o. the mandolin.
'In China continued he, "a nan never
sees his wife until he is welded TO her for
life, and sometimes he does not see her
then. for she may refuseto remove her veil
until three days have elapsed after the
wedding. If he dosen't like her he can
not get a divorce, but he may marry an
other wife, and then another and smother,
until he has gone through the bllndfoided
lottery often enough to get one that suits
him. Some of these Chinese CrGsucs
have hundreds of wives. There was an
old bachelor who took into his head to get
married one winter. and he married 2OO
wives before he got through. The last
wife is the fayorite, but the first on Is the
boss"
''If a man never sees his wife before
their wedding, how does be make love TO
beT2"
"He doesn't make love to her. His
-..AI,- orra thn nnnfnh and hiS fntnrp
mother-in-law makes love to him. 1t Is
sour cOurtship. Children are nOminnlly
engaged to other children that they have
never seen, at the tender age of nine or
ten, and after an engagement of ten or
twelve years they get married"
Does q Chinaman ever marry his
cOusin?"
mo; a marriage OF cousins was never
heard of in China. A man may no more
marry his cousin than in England q man
may marry his deceased wife's sister. You
talk about your old families here, and your
oldest families are only five generations old.
In China families are seventy-five and
eighty generations old, and every member
has a complete record of his ancestors for
all these generations. The remotest kin
ship prevents marriages in China, and II
the faintest imaginable kinship seventy
Eve generations back their children cannot
marry ...
"What are the most common families in
your cOuntry?'
Then Chcns, the Wongs and the Lees.
The Chens are the Smiths Of Chiua, the
Wongs are the JOnses and the lees are
| A.. D..u NJ, Ihar x..nnll nNorru IN
Miss Wong, but he wouldn't marry o Miss
Chen. Perhhps that is the reason why the
old folks make the matches. 1t prevents
the Chens from falling in love with one
another"
Are the Chinese ladies cultivated"
ooh, yes; they y read and write,
draw, paint and embrOidcr. They never
90 out on the street with their husbands.
If q Chinese man or woman were to walk
on the street arm-in-arm in their country,
as American men and women do, they
would be mobbed. The women stay in
doors. If they wish To visit their mothers
they take c~onveyances. Sometimes they
may be seen wUlking in the park with
their children"
You are married?'
"TO q Chinese LADY,"
"NO; to an American. | came to this
country when u boy ii years old. Though
| was 5000 miles from China, my mother
betrothed me to q little Chinese girl | had
never seen. My mother used TO write to
me how small her feet were and how pretty
she was, and what q beautiful, catlike nose
she had. When | was 20 years old mother
sent me a letter saying l was old enough
to get married, and must come back to
China and marry the girl"
"What did you think about it?"
81 thought | was old enough, and so fell
heels over cue in love with an American
girl in Nevada, and married her. We had
our pictures taken, and | sent one To my
mother, together with an account of the
wedding which i translated from an Ameri
can newspaper into Chinese"
"What happened?"
1.-THE next thing | knew my uncle and
four cousins came on TO the United States
and had me arrested for bigamy. | was
taken before q court and tried. My uncle
went on the stand and swOre that had a
wife in China"
''What did you do then?"
II thought | was III box, as you Amerl-
cans say. The judge asked tine witnesses
how old | was when l left china. They
replied that my mother had picked her ont
for me, and that, in Chinese law, was the
same rs marriage. The Judge said that
they didn't have any Chinese Statutes in
this country, and my uncle innOcently re-
piled that he would send to China for some.
Everybody in the court laughed, and, rs
lived in the town ever since | came to
America, all know that | had left China a
little boy, so the jury acquitted me. My
uncle told the Judge that he would he be-
headed when he went back to China, which
was Il monstrous iib with which he intend
cd to scare the judge. l have never been
back to China, and suppose the little girl,
whom l never saw, is a grass widow. Poor
childn'